Why cell phones are bad
You are waiting in line in the store, then suddenly a phone rings. It is a
cell phone with a unique ring tone. Three people around you begin patting their
pockets and purses for their phones. You know it is not your phone because the
the ring tone is not yours. The ring tone has cool beat, and you shake your body
because feels good. Then you realize that other people are looking at you and
stop, feeling embarrassed. Finally, the owner of the phone finds it in her purse
and picks it up. Right in front of you, she starts yapping to her girl friend
about going to the mall tonight. She talks loudly, but she talks to no one in
the room. After a few minutes of introduction, she notices that other people feel
uncomfortable (including you), so she takes her conversation outside. At least
the line is now one person shorter. You say to yourself: thank God.
Eventually, it is your turn to check out your items. Right in the middle of the
process your cell phone rings. Remembering about the girl in front of you, you
immediately pick it up. It is your mom reminding you get something. You talk to
the phone and quickly say to your mom that you will call you back and promptly
hang up. Five seconds later your phone rings again. Again you pick it up, only
to hear your angry mother yelling at you. So then you explain to your mom that
you are busy now and promise to call her later and then turn off the phone. The
cashier finishes the checkout and politely tells you how much is the receipt.
You apologize to the cashier and make your way out the the door quickly.
Now that it is safe, you turn your cell phone on and call your mom. You try to
be nice to her and apologize. Luckily, you mom is in a better mood and gives you
instructions on where to go to buy an item that she needs. You get in your car
and drive out the parking lot. On the road your cell phone rings again. At that
point you accidentally press the brakes a little. Your eyes open wide in fear
and turn back. Luckily, there was no car immediately behind you, you keep going
and get the phone. This time, it is one of your buddies talking to you. He
invites you to hang out with him and the gang and go to a movie. It sounds fun,
and since you have some time, you ask him when it starts. He tells you that you
can come as six. You wonder if you will be busy with something else at six.
While you are thinking, the car in front of you slows down. However, you notice
the car slow down a little later and barely miss it when you slam the brakes.
You tell your friend on the phone that you can come and hang up. That was a
close call.
When you get home with the shopping bags, you pick up the mail. Since your cell
phone bill came today, you might as well pay it off. When you open the envelope,
you see that it is over fifty dollars. Your plan, which requires a one-year
contract, charges $29.99 for 300 minutes and free weekend and night time usage.
Unfortunately, the plan does not cover long distance. Also included this bill
is a fee that you have never seen before. You call the phone company to ask
about this charge. After ten minutes of being put on hold, you talk to the
customer service department. The operator explains to you that the fee is a
one-time charge for using the phone without a contract. You tell the operator
that you did sign a contract and thus the fee would not apply. The
representative sees this and agrees to waive the the fee. You thank the person
and hang up. Returning to the bill, you see that you went over your 300 minutes
of airtime. Those qualms to your friends are taking a literal toll on you. You
better talk less or it will cost you. You are stuck with this phone for the
remainder of the year. If you break the contract, a $160 termination fee
applies. You are definitely screwed.
The next day you are at work and want to approach a co-worker to ask for
something. When you find her, she is talking to another person on, you guessed
it, her cell phone. Your co-worker glances at you with the single finger up
indicating to you to wait. Two minutes later you finally talk to her. You back
to work and someone yell's "Hello." You look back to find out that he is not
talking to you or anybody else, but a tiny wireless headset on his right ear.
Then you phone vibrates. You look at it and find that you missed 2 calls and
have 2 unheard messages. you spend 5 minutes listening to the messages, waiting
for them to finish before finally deleting them because the phone does not let
you. You could buy a new phone if you pay $120 or sign up for 2-year contract,
but it really is not worth it. It is better to let the existing contract expire
before you decide to continue the service or switch to a new one. You do not
have many options unfortunately since only a few phone companies have control
over the market, so you would still have to pay the same monthly fee of $48 per
month, the lowest possible plan.
Having a cell phone is convenient is some ways, but more annoying in other ways.
Paying another monthly bill is not something you look forward to for something
so burdensome.
08.19.2006